Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.
Source: http://fitfitpakistan.blogspot.com/2013/03/terms-online-marketing-one-need-to-know.html
carmelo anthony nurse jackie nurse jackie peeps nhl playoffs masters 2012 masters
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Argentina challenges U.S. court with bond plan
By Nate Raymond and Hugh Bronstein
NEW YORK/BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina challenged a U.S. court over the weekend by proposing that "holdout" bond investors be repaid only about one sixth the money federal judges hearing the case say they are owed, setting the stage for a legal showdown in New York.
The terms offered by Argentina are the same as those accepted by bondholders who chose to participate in the country's 2010 sovereign bond restructuring. The holdouts rejected that restructuring and are holding out for full repayment.
Aside from the implications the case has for Argentina's finances, it could also have wide ramifications for the way future sovereign restructurings are carried around the world.
Argentina defaulted on $100 billion in sovereign debt in 2002 at the height of a financial crisis in Latin America's third largest economy. The bonds now under dispute were issued in New York, which is why the case is being heard in U.S. court.
Elliott Management affiliate NML Capital Ltd, one of the lead plaintiffs, has said that it will not accept 2010 terms They and other holdouts are sure to argue that Argentina's proposal does not respond to the court's request.
"The court said 'You owe the holdouts $1.3 billion. Tell us how you are going to pay that to them,'" said Josh Rosner, managing director at research firm Graham Fisher & Co in New York.
"Instead of answering how they will pay the full amount, Argentina responded with a plan for paying a much smaller amount," he said. "Argentina is flirting with technical default, which would take a serious toll its economy."
The specter of technical defaults comes from the fact that a U.S. District Court in New York has said that until the holdouts start getting paid, Argentina cannot make payments to holders of the restructured bonds.
Elliott stands currently to receive $720 million from Argentina following a New York judge's order in November, according to Argentina.
But the bonds NML could take had a market value of just $186.8 million before a major decision in the case last October favoring the holdouts, or $120.6 million as of March 1, the filing said. Argentina estimates NML paid about $48.7 million in 2008 for its stake in the bonds.
"The Republic is prepared to fulfill the terms of this proposal promptly upon Order by the Court by submitting a bill to Congress that ensures its timely implementation," Jonathan Blackman, Argentina's U.S. lawyer, wrote.
Around 92 percent of Argentina's defaulted bonds were restructured in 2005 and 2010, with bondholders receiving 25 cents to 29 cents on the dollar.
But holdouts led by NML Capital and Aurelius Capital Management have fought for years for full payment. Argentina calls these funds "vultures."
In October, the 2nd Circuit upheld a trial judge's ruling by finding Argentina had violated a so-called pari passu clause in its bond documents requiring it to treat creditors equally.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa in Manhattan subsequently ordered Argentina in November to pay the $1.33 billion owed to the bondholders into an escrow account by the time of its next interest payment to holders of the exchanged debt.
The 2nd Circuit heard an appeal of that order on February 27. Two days later, it directed Argentina to provide details of "the precise terms of any alternative payment formula and schedule to which it is prepared to commit."
BOND OPTIONS
In its 22-page submission late on Friday, Argentina said that under a so-called par bond option, the bondholders would receive new bonds due in 2038 with the same nominal face value of their current bonds. They would pay 2.5 percent to 5.25 percent a year, Argentina said.
Bondholders would also receive an immediate cash payment similar to what it provided under the 2010 debt swap, Argentina said. And they would receive derivative instruments that provide payments when the country's gross domestic product exceeds 3 percent a year.
The par option is restricted to small investors, unlike the discount option, the more applicable fit for big investors like NML and Aurelius.
Under the discount proposal, holdouts could receive new discount bonds due in 2033 that pay 8.28 percent annually. Argentina said the holdouts would also receive past due interest since 2003 in the form of bonds due in 2017 paying 8.75 percent a year, and GDP-linked derivative units.
Blackman, Argentina's lawyer, wrote that the proposal, unlike what he called the "100 cents on the dollar immediately" formula Griesa adopted, "is consistent with the pari passu clause, longstanding principles of equity, and the Republic's capacity to pay."
It was unclear on Saturday how the court might view Argentina's proposals. The same three-judge panel had said in October, though, that the holdouts "were completely within their rights" to reject prior debt swap offers.
Euginio Bruno, a lawyer and bond restructuring expert with the law firm Estudio Garrido Abogados in Buenos Aires, said the government's Friday proposal "was within expectations, considering the legal constraints on offering anything better than the terms of the 2010 restructuring."
Argentina has a "lock law" that keeps new governments from improving the terms of previous restructurings.
Earlier in the week, the holdouts scored a victory over Argentina when the 2nd Circuit denied a full court review of its October ruling on the equal treatment provision.
The United States had backed Argentina in seeking the review, contending the 2nd Circuit's decision ran "counter to longstanding U.S. efforts to promote orderly restructuring of sovereign debt.
Argentina and holders of its restructured bonds say granting the holdouts 100 cents on the dollar could complicate future sovereign restructurings around the world.
Argentine Vice President Amado Boudou repeated on Saturday that Argentina would continue repaying investors who participated in the restructuring no matter how the U.S. court case is resolved.
"One way or another, Argentina will pay," he said.
The case is NML Capital Ltd et al v. Republic of Argentina, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 12-105.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond; Additional reporting by Helen Popper, Alejandro Lifschitz and Guido Nejamkis in Buenos Aires; Editing by Todd Eastham, Will Dunham and Eric Beech)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/argentina-challenges-u-court-bond-plan-011959470--sector.html
dale earnhardt oscar predictions nba all star game 2012 academy awards 2012 nominations
Michael Dell spoke with Blackstone during "go-shop"
By Greg Roumeliotis
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dell Inc founder and CEO Michael Dell met with private equity firms Blackstone Group LP and Francisco Partners during the computer maker's "go-shop" period, a person familiar with the matter said on Friday.
The meetings, which took place on March 7 and 8, will be disclosed in Dell's proxy statement on Friday and indicate Blackstone explored early on the possibility of keeping Michael Dell as CEO in a bid to take over the company, the person said on condition of anonymity because the information was not yet public.
Michael Dell also met this week with Blackstone's senior managing directors Dave Johnson and Chinh Chu, although the outcome of these discussions has yet to become clear, the person added.
Blackstone and Dell declined to comment.
The company set up a special committee to evaluate all options for the world's No. 3 PC maker, a move to placate concerns over potential conflicts of interest facing Michael Dell. The CEO owns 15.7 percent of the company he started in 1984 out of his college dorm room with $1,000.
Following a 45-day go-shop period that expired last week, Dell received two alternative preliminary takeover offers that sought to top a $24.4 billion deal Dell had reached with its founder and buyout firm Silver Lake to go private
One offer was from Blackstone, Francisco and Insight Venture Management and the other was from billionaire Carl Icahn, who has amassed a roughly $1 billion stake in the Round Rock, Texas-based company.
Icahn has proposed paying $15 per share for 58 percent of Dell. Blackstone has indicated it can pay more than $14.25 per share for the whole of the company, all in cash or partly in shares, thereby also leaving Dell as a publicly listed company. Silver Lake's $13.65 per share all-cash offer would see Dell go private.
Dell said on Monday that Blackstone's and Icahn's proposals could reasonably be expected to result in superior offers, and that it would continue negotiations with both parties to secure superior bids that are binding and financed.
Michael Dell has expressed concerns that Blackstone's offer would dismantle the PC maker he founded in 1984, two people close to Michael Dell familiar with the matter have previously told Reuters.
The founder is worried that the buyout firm's plans would be inconsistent with his strategy to reinvest in the company, the people added.
Blackstone has already made an unsuccessful push to recruit Oracle Corp President Mark Hurd to run Dell if it takes over the company, one source familiar with the situation said last week.
(Reporting by Gregory Roumeliotis; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/michael-dell-spoke-blackstone-during-shop-source-155247372--sector.html
sabu franchise tag lesotho a wrinkle in time benjamin netanyahu storm shelters nick lachey
North Korea's Internet? What Internet? For most, online access doesn't exist
You won't find people in North Korea checking Facebook or Twitter for the latest updates on the tense situation created by its leader, Kim Jong Un. That's because the nation of 24 million is largely shut out from the Internet. Few outside the government and military have ever been online.
"In North Korea, we don't see evidence that much of anyone has access," Jim Cowie, chief technology officer and co-founder of Renesys, which does global Internet measurement, told NBC News.
"You don't see banks or factories or universities attached to the Internet," he said. "In North Korea, Internet is extremely limited. They don't have those resources. There's basically one service provider and that is state-controlled."
The country's Internet access physically comes through from China, he said, supplemented "sometimes" by a satellite provider.
"We don't have first-hand knowledge of who has access," Cowie said, but Internet use is "very tightly restricted."
So much so that North Korea was named one of 12 "enemies" of the Internet last year by Reporters Without Borders, which monitors censorship globally. "We still consider North Korea as an enemy of the Internet," Delphine Hagland, the group's director in Washington, D.C., told NBC News. Other countries making that list included China, Iran, Syria and Vietnam.
There aren't many other sources of information available in North Korea, which according to the CIA World Factbook, has "no independent media," with "radios and TVs ... pre-tuned to government stations."
About 1 million people in North Korea have cellphones, but they are not phones with Internet access.
There may be some exceptions, said Hagland. North Koreans who live near the border with China "can have the (illegal) option of connecting to the Chinese mobile network."
In its report, Reporters Without Borders also noted the existence of what's sometimes called a "sneakernet" ? that is, people handing off data to one another via physical media, rather than across a network. The North Korea-China border is "sufficiently porous to allow mobile phones, CDs, DVDs and USB flash drives containing articles and other content to be smuggled in from China."
North Korea did, for a very short time recently, allow tourists who were staying at one hotel to have Internet access via their 3G cellphones. But that access was yanked within less than a month, according to a report in Wired UK.
That brief mobile Internet availability was not tied to Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt's visit to the country, along with former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson. The two had gone to North Korea in January to seek the release of American detainee Kenneth Bae ? which did not happen ? as well as to promote Internet freedom.
Nearly two years ago, the United Nations said that access to the Internet should be considered a basic human right. But North Korea has not gotten ? or has ignored ? that memo.
Schmidt, who met with North Korean scientists and software engineers, said after his visit that the country runs a risk of being left behind economically if it does not provide Internet access.
"Once the Internet starts, citizens in a country can certainly build on top of it, but the government has to do something,? he told NBC News' Ed Flanagan at that time. ?They have to make it possible for people to use the Internet, which the government in North Korea has not yet done.?
Check out Technology, GadgetBox, DigitalLife and InGame on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.
mary louise parker cher morgellons nhl all star draft seal team 6 touch nitrous oxide
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Kenyans await ruling in disputed presidential race
By Edmund Blair
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's Supreme Court rules on Saturday on a challenge to Uhuru Kenyatta's presidential election win, a judgment seen as a test of the democratic system five years after another disputed vote triggered tribal bloodshed.
The country's outgoing president called for calm ahead of the decision that will either confirm the victory of Kenya's richest man Kenyatta or force another vote.
Defeated candidate Raila Odinga says the March 4 poll was marred by technical problems and widespread rigging. Both politicians have promised to abide by the court's final word.
Many ordinary Kenyans insist they will not allow a repeat of the anarchy that killed more than 1,200 people and hammered the economy following a dispute over the last election in 2007.
"We have moved on," said Monica Njagi, 28, owner of an Internet cafe in the port city of Mombasa. "Whatever the ruling, we shall go by it ... We have enough useful lessons from our past."
Peaceful voting this time round, and the fact that the dispute is being played out by lawyers not machete-wielding gangs, has already helped repair the image of east Africa's largest economy.
Saturday's ruling will test whether Kenyans trust their reformed judiciary and whether supporters of rival candidates will accept the result quietly in a nation where tribal loyalties largely determine political allegiances.
Chief Justice Willy Mutunga has yet to set a time on Saturday that he and his panel of judges will issue a verdict. Comments at a brief hearing on Friday suggested it might not come till later on Saturday.
"As the country awaits the Supreme Court ruling which is due this Easter weekend, I call upon all of us to accept the ruling and maintain peace," outgoing President Mwai Kibaki said in a message to mark the Christian Easter holiday.
"ESSENTIAL CONTACTS"
Western donors are watching the fate of a trade partner and a country they see as vital to regional stability. But they also face a headache if Kenyatta wins, because he is facing charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court.
Kenyatta is accused of helping incite the violence after the 2007 vote but has denied the charges and promised to cooperate to clear his name.
Western nations have a policy of having only "essential contacts" with indictees of the court. They say that will not affect dealings with the government as a whole. But they still face a delicate balancing act to avoid driving a long-time ally of the West closer to emerging powers such as China.
Neighboring African states are also keeping a careful eye on the proceedings after they were hit by the knock-on effects when vital trade routes through Kenya were shut down five years ago.
Kenyatta comfortably beat Odinga in terms of votes won, 50.07 percent versus 43.28 percent, but only narrowly avoided a run-off after winning just 8,100 votes more than the 50 percent needed to be declared the winner outright.
In the Supreme Court's hearing on Friday, the legal teams reviewed results of recounts ordered in 22 of the 33,400 polling stations after Odinga said more votes were cast than registered voters. Both sides said the recounts supported their arguments.
Odinga's team argued that the failure of technology in tallying undermined the vote. Rival lawyers said any irregularities or technical hiccups had an insignificant impact and did not change the overall outcome.
International observers said voting itself was credible, but diplomats say observers did not watch the full five-day count.
(Additional reporting by Joseph Akwiri in Mombasa; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kenyans-await-ruling-disputed-presidential-race-022046688.html
Verlander, Tigers agree to $180M, 7-year deal
LAKELAND, Fla. (AP) ? For Justin Verlander, $180 million was enough. No need to wait two seasons, become a free agent and find out how much baseball's biggest spenders would offer.
"I wondered what it would be like to test free agency, but the pull of Detroit was too much," the Tigers' ace said Friday after agreeing to a seven-year contract, the richest deal for a pitcher in baseball history. "Once spring training started I knew I wanted to stay."
Verlander's deal broke the record for pitchers set just a month earlier when Seattle's Felix Hernandez agreed to a $175 million, seven-year contract.
"It's a very exciting day," Tigers President Dave Dombrowski said. "It's a big day for us. He's as fine a pitcher as there is in baseball. His record speaks for itself. He can be one of the greatest, if not the greatest pitcher in Tiger history."
The 2011 AL MVP and Cy Young Award winner had been signed through 2014 under an $80 million, five-year contract paying him $20 million in each of the next two seasons.
The new deal keeps those salaries and adds $140 million in guaranteed money: $28 million each season from 2015-19. It includes a $22 million option for 2020 that would become guaranteed if he finishes among the top five in 2019 Cy Young voting. The deal could be worth $202 million over eight seasons.
"The city of Detroit is committed to winning," he said. "I'm so excited to be playing in Detroit. I was never shy about saying I wanted to stay in Detroit. It's tough to put into words how much I love Detroit. We have the best fans in baseball."
Considered an elite pitcher since winning the 2006 AL Rookie of the Year award, the 30-year-old right-hander is 124-65 with a 3.40 ERA in eight major league seasons with two no-hitters. He was 24-5 two years ago, becoming the first starting pitcher to sweep Cy Young and MVP since Boston's Roger Clemens in 1986.
Verlander also has compiled a 19-win season and two each of 18 and 17. He led the big leagues in strikeouts and innings in 2009, 2011 and 2012.
"He is never going to be content," Dombrowski said. "He wants a World Series, and he wants the Hall of Fame."
Verlander's teammates were pleased for their star pitcher.
"First, he deserves it because it means a lot for all of us," pitcher Max Scherzer said. "From now on, every time we go out to dinner, I am not even going to make a token effort to pull out my credit card. Every dinner this year is on him."
___
AP Sports Writer Ronald Blum contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/verlander-tigers-agree-180m-7-deal-172702552--mlb.html
Loeb's Third Point outperforms hedge fund rivals again
By Svea Herbst-Bayliss
BOSTON (Reuters) - Hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb outperformed his rivals again in the first quarter with returns that kept pace with the stock market's recent rally, a person familiar with Loeb's returns said.
The New York-based manager told investors late on Thursday that his flagship Third Point Offshore Fund rose 2.8 percent in March while the Third Point Ultra fund, the leveraged version of the Offshore fund, gained 4.2 percent.
For the year to date, the Offshore fund, with $5.6 billion (3.68 billion pounds) in assets, is up 9.2 percent while the Third Point Ultra Fund gained 13.3 percent.
During the same time, the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index climbed 10 percent while it rose 3.6 percent during the month.
A spokeswoman for Loeb's fund declined to comment.
Low cost index funds, which oversee roughly $1.3 trillion worldwide, have been a hit with investors with the Vanguard 500 index, for example, gaining 10.57 percent this year.
Loeb, whose firm oversees roughly $11.6 billion, is traditionally among the first in the super secretive hedge fund industry to tell clients how he did during the month, carrying on a friendly rivalry with David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital to see who can be the first to inform investors. Hedge fund returns are rarely made public by their managers.
The Third Point numbers stand in contrast to many other hedge funds where returns have been tepid. Many investors have questioned why they should pay hefty management and performance fees for hedge funds at a time when straight stock investments are performing so well.
Einhorn also shared his returns with investors late on Thursday, reporting a 2.3 percent gain in his Greenlight Capital fund in March, leaving it up 6.1 percent for the year.
A spokesman declined to comment.
Star stock picker Leon Cooperman's Omega Advisors was up 6.55 percent during the first two months of the year and his son Wayne Cooperman's Cobalt Offshore fund was up 3.63 percent through February. John Paulson's Advantage fund lost 2.63 percent in the first two months of the year.
Loeb and Einhorn calculated their returns very quickly, sending their monthly numbers out even before the month ended just hours after trading concluded on Thursday and before Friday's holiday when U.S. stock markets and most European markets are closed.
Most hedge fund managers take a few business days to calculate their numbers and longer to pen their quarterly letters, which are expected to be released later highlighting trends in the first three months of the year.
Early indications show that 2013 is not starting on a strong note for the an industry that used to pride itself in making money in all markets. Hedge Fund Research data show most funds nearly flat for the month with only a 0.69 percent gain, leaving them up only 3.11 percent for the year.
Loeb has won praise from investors in recent weeks for moving in and out of trades more quickly than some rivals, for example, making money as nutritional supplements company Herbalife
Einhorn has a more U.S.-focused portfolio, with Apple remaining one of his biggest bets. Even though the stock was tumbling late last year, Einhorn stuck with his bet and this year squared off against the computer maker first by suing it and later convening a public conference call to suggest Apple should adopt perpetual preferred shares to send more cash back to investors.
(Reporting By Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by David Gregorio)
coolio ricky rubio day light savings time peter paul and mary edgar rice burroughs dallas clark litter
Judge rejects divorce for transgender pregnant man
PHOENIX (AP) ? An Arizona judge on Friday refused to grant a divorce for a transgender Arizona man who gave birth to three children after beginning to change his sex from female.
Maricopa County Family Court Judge Douglas Gerlach ruled that Arizona's ban on same-sex marriages prevents Thomas Beatie's 9-year union from being recognized as valid.
Thomas Beatie was born a woman and later underwent a double-mastectomy, and began testosterone hormone therapy and psychological treatment to become a man, but he retained female reproductive organs and gave birth to three children.
Gerlach said he had no jurisdiction to approve a divorce because there's insufficient evidence that Beatie was a man when he married Nancy Beatie in Hawaii. He said the Beaties never provided records to fully explain what Thomas Beatie actually had done and not done to become a man.
"The decision here is not based on the conclusion that this case involves a same-sex marriage merely because one of the parties is a transsexual male, but instead, the decision is compelled by the fact that the parties failed to prove that (Thomas Beatie) was a transsexual male when they were issued their marriage license," he wrote in Friday's ruling.
A spokesman for Beatie, Ryan Gordon, said the judge's comments came as a shock and that Beatie plans to appeal the ruling. He said Beatie legally was married as a man and never was required to disclose that he retained female reproductive organs when applying for and being granted a new birth certificate in Hawaii as a man. He said Beatie halted testosterone treatments so that he could give birth to his children.
"It's unfortunate that the judge out here doesn't recognize marriage in another state," Gordon said.
Beatie is eager to end his marriage, but the couple's divorce plans stalled last summer when Gerlach said he was unable to find legal authority defining a man as someone who can give birth.
Gerlach's ruling didn't address whether Arizona law allows a person who was born female to marry another female after undergoing a sex change operation.
A separate ruling issued Friday by Gerlach sets guidelines on how the Beaties will co-parent their three children and grants them joint authority in making legal decisions. Thomas Beatie is required to pay nearly $240 a month to Nancy Beatie for child support, but she won't get alimony because the marriage was declared invalid.
Nancy Beatie's attorney, David Higgins, praised Gerlach for the thoroughness of the decision on the marriage, although it wasn't the one she had hoped for.
"He still sees a same-sex marriage, but he gave us all the rulings that we're asking for as far as the children," Higgins said.
The National Center for Lesbian Rights, which isn't involved in the Beatie divorce case, has said courts have declared marriages involving a transgender person invalid in a handful of cases across the country, but that those cases had different factual and legal issues than those in the Beatie case.
Thomas Beatie, known as "The Pregnant Man," was born Tracy Lehuanani Lagondino in Oahu, Hawaii. He began testosterone treatments in 1997 and underwent double mastectomy and chest reconstruction surgery in 2002. He changed his Hawaii driver's license to say he was a man and had a Hawaiian court approve his name change to Thomas.
Gerlach's ruling noted that Thomas Beatie halted the testosterone treatments and that he didn't provide documentation for any additional non-surgical efforts.
Thomas Beatie married his partner Nancy in early 2003 in Honolulu and became pregnant because Nancy was unable to have children. Thomas Beatie conceived with donated sperm and gave birth to children who are now 4, 3 and 2 years old. The couple eventually moved to Arizona.
Beatie has garnered a range of media attention, making the rounds on talk shows such as Larry King and Oprah Winfrey and winning a spot on Barbara Walters' list of "10 Most Fascinating People" in 2008, alongside President Barack Obama, conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh and swimmer Michael Phelps. He also published a book, "Labor Of Love: The Story of One Man's Extraordinary Pregnancy," the cover displaying an image of a shirtless Thomas sporting facial hair and holding a hand over his bare pregnant belly.
___
Fonseca reported from Flagstaff, Ariz. Associated Press Writer Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/judge-rejects-divorce-transgender-pregnant-man-162832151.html
Corvette Stingray Claire Danes Amy Poehler Australian Open Girls Hbo Golden Globes homeland
Friday, March 29, 2013
GOP moves to catch up with Democrats on technology
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Republicans are moving aggressively to repair their technological shortcomings from the 2012 election, opening a new tech race to counter a glaring weakness against President Barack Obama.
With the blessing of party leaders, a new crop of Republican-backed outside groups is developing tools to improve communication with voters, predict their behavior and track Democratic opponents. After watching Obama win re-election with the aid of an unprecedented technological machine, GOP officials concede an urgent need for major changes in the way they reach voters. They are turning to a younger generation of tech experts expected to play a bigger role in the 2014 midterm elections and beyond.
"I think everybody realized that the party is really far behind at the moment and they're doing everything within their realistic sphere of influence to catch up," said Bret Jacobson, a partner with Red Edge, a Virginia-based digital advocacy firm that represents the Republican Governors Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Heritage Foundation.
Alex Skatell, former digital director for the GOP's gubernatorial and Senate campaign operations, leads a new group that has been quietly testing a system that would allow Republicans to share details about millions of voters ? their personal interests, group affiliations and even where they went to school. Democrats began using related technology years ago, giving Obama a significant advantage last fall in personalizing communication with prospective supporters.
With no primary opponent last year, Obama's re-election team used the extra time to build a large campaign operation melding a grass-roots army of 2.2 million volunteers with groundbreaking technology to target voters. They tapped about 17 million email subscribers to raise nearly $700 million online.
Data-driven analytics enabled the campaign to run daily simulations to handicap battleground states, analyze demographic trends and test alternatives for reaching voters online.
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, in contrast, had only a few months after a lengthy primary fight to try to match Obama's tech advantage. He couldn't make up the difference. Romney's technology operation was overwhelmed by the intense flow of data and temporarily crashed on Election Day.
A 100-page report on how to rebound from the 2012 election, released last week by Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus, includes several technology recommendations.
"The president's campaign significantly changed the makeup of the national electorate and identified, persuaded and turned out low-propensity voters by unleashing a barrage of human and technological resources previously unseen in a presidential contest," the report said. "Marrying grass-roots politics with technology and analytics, they successfully contacted, persuaded and turned out their margin of victory. There are many lessons to be learned from their efforts, particularly with respect to voter contact."
Skatell, 26, is leading one new effort by Republican allies to fill the void. His team of designers, software developers and veteran Republican strategists is now testing what he calls an "almost an eHarmony for matching volunteers with persuadable voters" that would let campaigns across the country share details in real time on voter preferences, harnessing social media like Facebook and Twitter.
Other groups are working to improve the GOP's data and digital performance.
The major Republican ally, American Crossroads, which spent a combined $175 million on the last election with its sister organization, hosted private meetings last month focused on data and technology. Drawing from technology experts in Silicon Valley, the organization helped craft a series of recommendations expected to be rolled out later this year.
"A good action plan that fixes our deficiencies and identifies new opportunities can help us regain our advantage within a cycle or two," said Crossroads spokesman Jonathan Collegio.
A prominent group of Republican aides has also formed America Rising, a company that will have a companion "super" political action committee that can raise unlimited contributions without having to disclose its donors. Its purpose is to counter Democratic opposition research groups, which generated negative coverage of Romney and GOP candidates last year.
America Rising will provide video tracking, opposition research and rapid response for campaign committees, super PACs and individual candidates' campaigns but does not plan to get involved in GOP primaries. It will be led by Matt Rhoades, who served as Romney's campaign manager, and Joe Pounder, the research director for the Republican National Committee. Running its super PAC will be Tim Miller, a former RNC aide and spokesman for former GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman.
Romney and several Republican candidates were monitored closely by camera-toting Democratic aides during the campaign, a gap that Miller said American Rising hopes to fill on behalf of Republicans.
Brad Woodhouse, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, said his party has "a several years' lead on data and analytics infrastructure and we're not standing still."
Of the GOP effort, Woodhouse said, "We don't see them closing the gap anytime soon."
___
Peoples reported from Boston.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gop-moves-catch-democrats-technology-065816379--election.html
Google Ryder Cup Standings Dexter Season 7 Ryder Cup 2012 Johnny Lewis yom kippur yom kippur
What Kind of Speaker Setup Do You Have on Your Computer?
If you game or watch movies, you may prefer a set of surround speakers or headphones. If you're mostly into music, a good pair of stereo speakers (plus maybe a subwoofer) or nice set of studio headphones may do the trick. And if you don't really use your computers sound much aside from needing to hear the occasional system beep or ping, the speakers that came with your computer may suit you just fine.
If you need some help choosing a good setup, we can help. Just check out our reader-nominated Hive Five lists of the five best desktop computer speakers, headphones, or headsets with attached microphones.
In the meantime, we'd like to know:
Images by Jeff Dray (flickr), Arogant (Shutterstock), and PSD Graphics.
edmund fitzgerald uss enterprise white house easter egg roll 2012 andy cohen andy cohen mozambique oosthuizen
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Ahmadinejad roadshow: Pitching his political heir
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? During a celebration last week to mark the Persian new year, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did something quietly remarkable: He stood modestly to the side and let his favored aide have the spotlight.
The gesture was far more than just a rare demure moment from the normally grandstanding leader. It was more carefully scripted stagecraft in Ahmadinejad's longshot efforts to promote the political fortunes of his chief of staff ? and in-law ? and seek a place for him on the June presidential ballot that will pick Iran's next president.
In the waning months of Ahmadinejad's presidency ? weakened by years of internal battles with the ruling clerics ? there appears no bigger priority than attempting one last surprise. It's built around rehabilitating the image of Esfandiari Rahim Mashaei and somehow getting him a place among the candidates for the June 14 vote.
Mashaei has long been a close Ahmadinejad aide, and his daughter is married to the president's son ? a closeness that entails unquestionable loyalty, which is perhaps the main reason why Iran's clerical establishment is set against him.
To get Mashaei on the list of presidential contenders, Ahmadinejad must do what has eluded him so far: Come out on top in a showdown with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the other guardians of the Islamic Republic. Ahmadinejad has been slapped down hard after bold ? but ultimately doomed ? attempts in recent years to push the influence of his office on policies and decisions reserved for the ruling clerics.
That has left him limping into the end of his eight-year presidency with many allies either jailed or pushed to the political margins. Mashaei is part of the collateral damage.
But the aide has been discredited as part of a "deviant current" that critics say seeks to undermine Islamic rule in Iran and elevate the values of pre-Islamic Persia. The smear campaign has even included rumors that Mashaei conjured black magic spells to cloud Ahmadinejad's judgment.
The prevailing wisdom is that the backlash has effectively killed Mashaei's chances for the presidential ballot. The ruling clerics vet all candidates and, the theory follows, they seek a predictable slate of loyalists after dealing with Ahmadinejad's ambitions and disruptive power plays.
In short: Friends of Ahmadinejad need not apply.
Khamenei and others, including the powerful Revolutionary Guard, also are hoping to quell domestic political spats that they fear project a sense of instability during critical negotiations with the West over Tehran's nuclear program.
Yet none of this seems to have discouraged Ahmadinejad, who has been trying to groom Mashaei for years as his potential heir and now appears reluctant to toss his backing behind a less controversial figure.
To that end, the president has hit the road as a cheerleader for Mashaei under the slogan "Long Live Spring."
At one stop, Ahmadinejad described Mashaei as "a pious man." At another event he called him "excellent, wise," and at a third said his adviser has "a heart like a mirror."
At last week's event, both men burst into tears as they discussed the need to help children with cancer. Ahmadinejad then "thanked God for having the opportunity to get to know Mashaei."
Ahmadinejad appears to be banking on his populist appeal to force the Guardian Council ? the gatekeepers for the candidates ? to consider Mashaei too prominent to reject.
"Ahmadinejad doesn't want to go out with a whimper. That's not his style," said Mustafa Alani, an analyst at the Gulf Research Center based in Geneva. "He wants his legacy, his man, as his successor."
Tehran-based political analyst Sadeq Zibakalam also sees Mashaei as Ahmadinejad's last-ditch insurance policy. Without an ally as successor, Ahmadinejad fears he will be cast to the political sidelines.
"Ahmadinejad has no option but to get one of his loyalists into power," he said.
It will be more than a month before the candidate list is finalized. The presidential hopefuls will register from May 7-11, the semiofficial Fars news agency reported Monday.
Already, however, the general contours are taking shape.
There is Ahmadinejad's quest for Mashaei as the only active campaign roadshow.
Many conservatives, meanwhile, seem to be coalescing around a three-way alliance ? all apparently in the good graces of the ruling system ? of former Foreign Minister and current Khamenei adviser Ali Akbar Velayati; Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and prominent lawmaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, whose daughter is married to Khamenei's son.
"Should we win, our coalition will form the backbone of the future government," Velayati told a press conference earlier this month, suggesting that the potential winner would seek key posts for the other two.
A separate roster of establishment-friendly candidates is getting bigger by the day. It includes former Intelligence Minister Ali Fallahian; parliament's vice speaker, Mohammad Reza Bahonar, and a former Revolutionary Guard commander, Mohsen Rezaei, who ran against Ahmadinejad in his disputed re-election in 2009.
Reformists remain undecided whether to fall behind a potential candidate or boycott the vote in protest of the 2009 outcome ? which they claim stole the election from Green Movement leader Mir Hossein Mousavi ? and the crushing pressures on dissent that followed. Mousavi and fellow reformist candidate Mahdi Karroubi have been under house arrest for more than two years.
But the most unpredictable element is still Ahmadinejad's push for Mashaei, whom he bills as his ideological heir and supporter of populist initiatives such as government stipends to poor families.
"Ahmadinejad will travel city to city and tell the public that they should vote for me if they want Ahmadinejad's plans to be pursued," Mashaei was quoted as saying by Iranian media.
The president ? the same man who calls for the destruction of Iran's enemies ? is often musing and sentimental as Mashaei's pitchman.
"I testify that this man loves all human beings," Ahmadinejad said of his in-law.
Mashaei, however, has been a political lightning rod for years. In 2009, Ahmadinejad appointed him as his first vice president, but was forced to backtrack on orders from Khamenei.
Mashaei is believed to have been Ahmadinejad's adviser in a stunning feud with Khamenei over the choice of intelligence chief in 2011. The president boycotted Cabinet meetings for 11 days ? an unprecedented show of disrespect to Iran's supreme leader ? but finally backed down.
In December, Ahmadinejad named Mashaei to a top post in the Nonaligned Movement, a Cold War holdover that Iran seeks to revive as a counterweight to Western influence. The appointment was seen as an attempt to raise Mashaei's political profile and give him some international experience.
While it's not possible to rule out any candidate until the vetting process is complete, one conservative cleric gives Mashaei no chance.
"The exalted supreme leader ordered that Mashaei is not qualified to serve as first vice president." said Qasem Ravanbakhsh. "So will the Guardian Council approve for president a man was not qualified to be the first vice president? Never."
___
Murphy reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ahmadinejad-roadshow-pitching-political-heir-063835043.html
hungergames bagpipes aspirin aspirin 21 jump street illinois primary results acapulco mexico
Afghan villagers flee their homes, blame US drones
In this Tuesday, March 19, 2013 photo, Afghan men sit among the debris of their destroyed school in the village of Budyali, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan. Taliban militants attacked the nearby district headquarters in July 2011, then took refuge in the school. The Afghan National Army requested help from coalition forces, who responded with drones, fighter jets and rockets, leaving the school destroyed, according to village elders. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
In this Tuesday, March 19, 2013 photo, Afghan men sit among the debris of their destroyed school in the village of Budyali, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan. Taliban militants attacked the nearby district headquarters in July 2011, then took refuge in the school. The Afghan National Army requested help from coalition forces, who responded with drones, fighter jets and rockets, leaving the school destroyed, according to village elders. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
In this Tuesday, March 19, 2013 photo, Afghan men peer through the former window of their destroyed school in the village of Budyali, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan. Taliban militants attacked the nearby district headquarters in July 2011, then took refuge in the school. The Afghan National Army requested help from coalition forces, who responded with drones, fighter jets and rockets, leaving the school destroyed, according to village elders. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
In this Tuesday, March 19, 2013 photo, Afghan men walk through the debris of their destroyed school in the village of Budyali, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan. Taliban militants attacked the nearby district headquarters in July 2011, then took refuge in the school. The Afghan National Army requested help from coalition forces, who responded with drones, fighter jets and rockets, leaving the school destroyed, according to village elders. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
In this Tuesday, March 19, 2013 photo, an Afghan man sits among the debris of a destroyed school in the village of Budyali, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan. Taliban militants attacked the nearby district headquarters in July 2011, then took refuge in the school. The Afghan National Army requested help from coalition forces, who responded with drones, fighter jets and rockets, leaving the school destroyed, according to village elders. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
In this Tuesday, March 19, 2013 photo, papers of schoolbooks lie among the debris of a destroyed school in the village of Budyali, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan. The Taliban attacked the district headquarters of Budyali in July 2011 and coalition forces responded to the Afghan National Army request for help with drones, fighter jets and rockets, leaving the school destroyed, according to village elders. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
KHALIS FAMILY VILLAGE, Afghanistan (AP) ? Barely able to walk even with a cane, Ghulam Rasool says he padlocked his front door, handed over the keys and his three cows to a neighbor and fled his mountain home in the middle of the night to escape relentless airstrikes from U.S. drones targeting militants in this remote corner of Afghanistan.
Rasool and other Afghan villagers have their own name for Predator drones. They call them benghai, which in the Pashto language means the "buzzing of flies." When they explain the noise, they scrunch their faces and try to make a sound that resembles an army of flies.
"They are evil things that fly so high you don't see them but all the time you hear them," said Rasool, whose body is stooped and shrunken with age and his voice barely louder than a whisper. "Night and day we hear this sound and then the bombardment starts."
The U.S. military is increasingly relying on drone strikes inside Afghanistan, where the number of weapons fired from unmanned aerial aircraft soared from 294 in 2011 to 506 last year. With international combat forces set to withdraw by the end of next year, such attacks are now used more for targeted killings and less for supporting ground troops.
It's unclear whether Predator drone strikes will continue after 2014 in Afghanistan, where the government has complained bitterly about civilian casualties. The strikes sometimes accidentally kill civilians while forcing others to abandon their hometowns in fear, feeding widespread anti-American sentiment.
The Associated Press ? in a rare on-the-ground look unaccompanied by military or security ? visited two Afghan villages in Nangarhar province near the border with Pakistan to talk to residents who reported that they had been affected by drone strikes.
In one village, Afghans disputed NATO's contention that five men killed in a particular drone strike were militants. In the other, a school that was leveled in a nighttime airstrike targeting Taliban fighters hiding inside has yet to be rebuilt.
"These foreigners started the problem," Rasool said of international troops. "They have their own country. They should leave."
From the U.S. perspective, the overall drone program has been a success.
While the Pentagon operates the drones in Afghanistan, the CIA for nearly a decade has used drones to target militants, including Afghans, in Pakistan's border regions. CIA drones have killed al-Qaida No. 2 Abu Yahya al-Libi and other leading extremists.
Still, criticism of the use of drones for targeted killings around the world has been mounting in recent months. The U.N. Special Rapporteur on Counter Terrorism and Human Rights has launched an investigation into their effect on civilians.
Rasool said his decision to leave his home in Hisarak district came nearly a month ago after a particularly blistering air assault killed five people in the neighboring village of Meya Saheeb.
The U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, confirmed an airstrike on Feb. 24 at Meya Saheeb, but as a matter of policy would neither confirm nor deny that drones were used.
Rasool said that he, his son, half a dozen grandchildren, and two other families crammed into the back of a cart pulled by a tractor. They drove throughout the day until they found a house in Khalis Family Village, named after anti-communist rebel leader Maulvi Yunus Khalis, who had close ties to al-Qaida.
The village is not far from the Tora Bora mountain range where in 2001 the U.S.-led coalition mounted its largest operation of the war to flush out al-Qaida and Taliban warriors.
"Nobody ever comes here. It's a little dangerous sometimes because of the Taliban," said Zarullah Khan, a neighbor of Rasool's.
But the historic significance of his newfound refuge was lost on Rasool.
"Who's Khalis? We stopped when we found a house for rent," he said, grumbling at the monthly $200 bill shared among the three families packed into the high-walled compound where he spoke with the AP.
Standing nearby, Rasool's 12-year-old grandson, Ahmed Shah, recalled the attack in Meya Saheeb. The earth shook for what seemed like hours and the next morning his friends told him there were bodies in the nearby village. A little afraid, but more curious, he walked the short distance to Meya Saheed.
"I wanted to see the dead bodies," he said. And he did ? three bodies, all middle-aged men.
ISAF reported five militants were killed, but Rasool claimed they were businessmen. One of the dead had a carpet shop in the village, he said.
Disputes over the identities of those killed have been a hallmark of the 12-year war.
In Pakistan, an AP investigation last year found that drone strikes were killing fewer civilians than many in that country were led to believe, and that many of the dead were combatants.
In Afghanistan, the U.N. has reported that five drone strikes in 2012 resulted in civilian casualties, with 16 civilians killed and three wounded. It reported just one incident in which civilians were killed the previous year.
At the other end of the province from Meya Saheeb and Khalis Family Village lies the village of Budyali. To get there, one must drive along a long, two-lane highway often booby-trapped by militants, before turning turning off onto a narrow, dusty track and finally cross a rock-strewn riverbed.
A Budyali resident, Hayat Gul, says the sound of "benghai" is commonplace in the village. He says he was wounded nearly two years ago in a Taliban firefight with Afghan security forces at a nearby school that led to an airstrike.
Tucked in the shadow of a hulking mountain crisscrossed with dozens of footpaths, the school now is in ruins.
The early morning strike on the school took place on July 17, 2011, hours after the Taliban attacked the district headquarters and the Afghan National Army appealed to their coalition partners for help.
Gul said he and a second guard, 63-year-old Ghulam Ahad, were asleep in the small cement guard house at one end of the school. They awoke to the sound of gunfire as more than a dozen Taliban militants scaled the school walls around midnight, chased by Afghan soldiers.
A bullet struck Gul in the shoulder. Frightened and unsure of what to do, Ahad stepped outside the guard house and was killed. Bullet holes still riddle the badly damaged building.
Village elders and the school's principal, Sayed Habib, said coalition forces responded to the army's request for help with drones, fighter jets and rockets.
The air assault, which residents say began about 3 a.m. and likely included drone strikes, flattened everything across a vast compound that includes the school. Habib said 13 insurgents were killed.
ISAF confirmed that airstrikes killed insurgents in the Budyali area on that day but would not say what type of airstrikes or provide any other details.
Habib and a local malik or elder, Shah Mohammed Khan, said that in the days leading up to the airstrikes the sound of drones could be heard overhead.
"Everyone knows the sound of the unpiloted planes. Even our children know," Habib said.
The elders were critical of the U.S. attack. They said they would have preferred that the Afghan soldiers try to negotiate with the Taliban to leave the school and surrender.
Habib and the village elders recalled the attack while sitting in the middle of the devastated school, where debris was still scattered across a vast yard. They pointed toward a blackboard, pockmarked with gaping holes.
"Shamefully they destroyed our school, our books, our library," said Malik Gul Nawaz, an elder with a gray beard and a pot belly.
Habib said that in an attempt to rebuild the school, a contractor constructed a boundary wall before another Taliban attack. He fled with nearly $400,000 in foreign funds.
The roughly 1,300 students now take classes at a makeshift school made up of tents provided by UNICEF. Gul, who was taken to a U.S. military hospital at Bagram Air Base after the attack and treated for the bullet wound to his left shoulder, is now a watchman at the new school.
He held a small photograph of his dead colleague, Ahad, in his trembling left hand.
"We want to end this war," Gul said. "Enough people have been killed now. We have to find unity."
___
Kathy Gannon is the AP special regional correspondent for Afghanistan and Pakistan and can be followed on www.twitter.com/kathygannon
Associated Press'I felt pure joy': New Jersey Powerball winner confirmed
The $338 million Powerball jackpot winner steps forward to claim his prize. NBC News' Chris Clackum reports.
By Matthew DeLuca, Staff Writer, NBC News
Pedro Quezada, a?44-year-old father of five,?has 338 million reasons to smile.?
The New Jersey convenience store owner beamed as state lottery officials declared him the winner of the fourth-largest jackpot in Powerball history at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon and presented him with a monster yellow check.
?I felt pure joy,? Quezada said through a translator on Tuesday.
He?s already shut down the store he used to have to wake up at 5 a.m. to open, he said.
A share of his sudden windfall will go toward helping his family, Quezada said.
?My family is a very humble family and we?re going to help each other out,? he said.
?I?m going to help a lot of people, whatever they need,? he told the New York Daily News earlier.
Excitement grew around Quezada?s self-proclaimed win after lottery officials confirmed on Monday that the winning ticket in the $338 million Powerball jackpot was sold at the liquor store in Passaic.
The winners in Saturday night?s drawing were: 17, 29, 31, 52, 53, and the Powerball number, 31.
On Monday, the New Jersey man ran into Eagle Liquors to get his Powerball ticket scanned by store owner Sammy Sethi.?
Pedro Quedaza, an immigrant who came to New Jersey 26 years ago, accepted his $338 million Powerball jackpot Tuesday, saying he'll use the money to care for his family. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
Quezada, who is originally from the Dominican Republic and has been in the United States for 26 years, saw the message come up that people in 42 states were hoping for: ?Jackpot!?
The first thing he did was call his wife with the good news.
?I had no words,? she said of hearing her husband had won. ?My heart wanted to come out of my chest. I had no words.?
Reporters and photographers packed into Eagle Liquors on Monday after hearing that Quezada was there, even before lottery officials had confirmed the newly minted millionaire, who used to play the lottery two or three times a week.
His life will change ?but it will not change my heart,? Quezada said of his new fortune
Quezada lives with his wife and children in an apartment facing a highway. And his neighbors weren?t waiting on state authorities to confirm the news before they started congratulating Quezada.
?This is super for all of us on this block,? neighbor Eladia Vazquez told NBC New York. ?They deserve it because they are hardworking people.?
Related:
This story was originally published on Tue Mar 26, 2013 3:50 PM EDT
kurt warner kurt warner missouri primary minnesota caucus knowshon moreno knowshon moreno sovereign citizen
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Q&A: Online Tech's April Sage Explains How HIPAA's New Rules ...
As the healthcare industry sets to comply with new Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act regulations beginning March 26th, web hosting providers are forced to consider how these broader patient-privacy rules could impact their operations and practices.
From now on, web hosts will be directly responsible for proving that a breach caused no damage. This means that web hosting companies will need to?to implement security protections for all data and transactions, effectively creating a paper trail for every customer transaction.
Many web hosts have already announced in the past few months that they have updated their security practices to comply with the new HIPAA rules, including Online Tech and Peak 10.
In this expansion to the 1996 act, the new HIPAA regulations provide greater protection for patients by broadening health-information privacy, as well as?ensure that these rules also apply to vendors that contract with the healthcare companies.
Web hosts and other businesses will have until September 23rd to comply with the new HIPAA regulations.
In an email interview with the WHIR, April Sage, Online Tech director of healthcare vertical for CPHIMS discussed how the new HIPAA rules will affect web hosting companies and their practices.
WHIR: How will these new HIPAA regulations give healthcare customers greater protections?
April Sage: Protecting sensitive information is hard to overstress in the current climate of aggressive cyber threats. The black market value of patient information, potential for patient harm or embarrassment, and damage to the reputation of care providers and the vendors supporting them makes a breach of protected health information a high-stakes game. The final HIPAA privacy and security rules released January 17th clarify that the responsibility to protect health information extends throughout the chain-of-trust; that includes hosting providers whose clients might store, transmit, or process protected health information. We are Business Associates, in the eyes of the Department of Health and Human Services. As such, we?re subject to the same criminal and civil liabilities as the health care providers, referred to as Covered Entities, that we serve. Granted, it can make for a sobering gulp at first glance of a Business Associate Agreement, but PHI is like live ammo ? you have to take adequate protections.
WHIR: Do you think these regulations will help cut down the number of security breaches for your customers?
AS: Online Tech grew up with compliance, starting with Sarbanes-Oxley regulation. Between that and other standards like PCI DSS, we were already engaging in annual independent audits, cultivating a culture that was highly process-oriented and focused on following standards and consistent procedures. The HIPAA privacy and security rules didn?t introduce many surprises in terms of technical or physical safeguards, but it did change our approach to administrative safeguards. For example, one big change for Online Tech in becoming HIPAA compliant was the extension of HIPAA security training conducted throughout the entire organization, beyond those dedicated to security and technology. As a company, it made us more aware of why compliance is important, and contributed to a higher level of security awareness.
When a company as a whole is united and aware of the importance to protect PHI, and we have all eyes and minds thinking about it; that has to help security. After all, uninformed human error is one of the biggest contributors to breaches. It also helps our security and technical staff that the company as a whole has a good understanding of and supports the policies, procedures, and security restrictions they ask us to abide by. For companies that aren?t used to a comprehensive culture of compliance and security, these regulations will force more attention to policies and procedures across the entire organization.
WHIR: What is Online Tech doing in order to comply with the new HIPAA regulations?
AS: Online Tech began the HIPAA compliance journey with a risk assessment and gap analysis against the administrative, technical, and physical safeguards by a Certified HIPAA Security Specialist. The challenge in the first audits was trying to interpret fairly vague guidelines in terms of what was appropriate for a hosting provider. We based many of our controls on basic security frameworks as a guideline. Last year, we had the benefit of following the OCR Audit Protocol which gave us a better framework for our auditors to follow. We?ve relied heavily on close partnerships with our healthcare IT attorneys and independent auditors to give us critical feedback on our controls. It?s not something you can realistically do yourself; it?s just too easy to avoid the hard, honest interpretations where you have some work to do when budget and time constraints get challenged. We?ll continue investing in annual independent HIPAA audits to make sure we?re staying current with modifications to the rules as our products and services continue to evolve.
WHIR: Are there any regulations you would add that you think the Department of health and Human Services may have overlooked?
AS: In some ways, it would be easier if the Department of Health and Human Services were more prescriptive in their definition of the safeguards. Part of the problem is that the HITECH legislation covers such a widely diverse network of health care providers and vendors that it?s not realistic to get to a granular level of detail. The list of exceptions quickly becomes complex if you try to define specific technologies, policies, or procedures for all Business Associates. Those who are in the IT fields have looked to common security frameworks such as NIST to draw from in defining appropriate safeguards. The same ideas may not apply for BAs who are installing remote monitoring devices or law firms who may have PHI in the course of representing Covered Entities or groups of patients. Perhaps the Office of Civil Rights will release more detailed regulations as time goes on and they have the benefit of the takeaways from the KPMG audits. In the meantime, those in the technical space will have to look towards familiar security frameworks when it comes to specific IT implementations to protect PHI.
WHIR: Do you think these new regulations will lead to increased prices for your HIPAA compliant hosting services?
AS: Online Tech invested in independent auditing and additional safeguards early in the game, so those protections are already baked into our costs. We?ve been able to leverage our legacy of compliance to be competitively priced despite the additional administrative safeguards. We don?t see our pricing for our HIPAA hosting services increasing because of the final rules that take effect March 26, 2013. We are seeing many of our traditionally colocation customers in the healthcare space inquire about moving to private clouds when it comes to spending capital on a full hardware refresh. In this way, we expect our clients to continue moving into higher levels of managed services.
Talk back: Have you already updated your practices to comply with the new HIPAA regulations? Do you think web hosts like Online Tech will see increased business from healthcare companies as a result of their early compliance with the new HIPAA rules? Let us know in a comment.
About Justin Lee
Justin Lee has been a staff analyst with theWHIR since 2004. He writes about a range of web hosting and IT-related issues facing the industry on the WHIR website, as well the print version of the WHIR magazine. Follow him on Twitter @Justin_theWHIR.
oosthuizen louis double eagle bubba masters winner instagram facebook chicago cubs split pea soup recipe
Monday, March 25, 2013
Rampant Japan poised to seal World Cup berth
The World News (WN) Network, has created this privacy statement in order to demonstrate our firm commitment to user privacy. The following discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices for wn.com, as well as e-mail newsletters.
1. Personal Information Collection and Use
We do not collect personally identifiable information about you, except when you provide it to us. For example, if you submit an inquiry to us or sign up for our newsletter, you may be asked to provide certain information such as your contact details (name, e-mail address, mailing address, etc.).
When you submit your personally identifiable information through wn.com, you are giving your consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information as set forth in this Privacy Policy. If you would prefer that we not collect any personally identifiable information from you, please do not provide us with any such information. We will not sell or rent your personally identifiable information to third parties without your consent, except as otherwise disclosed in this Privacy Policy.
Except as otherwise disclosed in this Privacy Policy, we will use the information you provide us only for the purpose of responding to your inquiry or in connection with the service for which you provided such information. We may forward your contact information and inquiry to our affiliates and other divisions of our company that we feel can best address your inquiry or provide you with the requested service. We may also use the information you provide in aggregate form for internal business purposes, such as generating statistics and developing marketing plans. We may share or transfer such non-personally identifiable information with or to our affiliates, licensees, agents and partners.
We may retain other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf. Such third parties may be provided with access to personally identifiable information needed to perform their functions, but may not use such information for any other purpose.
In addition, we may disclose any information, including personally identifiable information, we deem necessary, in our sole discretion, to comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal proceeding or governmental request.
2. E-mail addresses
We do not want you to receive unwanted e-mail from us. We try to make it easy to opt-out of any service you have asked to receive. If you sign-up to our e-mail newsletters we do not sell, exchange or give your e-mail address to a third party.
E-mail addresses are collected via the wn.com web site. Users have to physically opt-in to receive the wn.com newsletter and a verification e-mail is sent. wn.com is clearly and conspicuously named at the point of
collection.If you no longer wish to receive our newsletter and promotional communications, you may opt-out of receiving them by following the instructions included in each newsletter or communication or by e-mailing us at michaelw(at)wn.com
The security of your personal information is important to us. We follow generally accepted industry standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during registration and once we receive it. No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100 percent secure, however. Therefore, though we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
If we decide to change our e-mail practices, we will post those changes to this privacy statement, the homepage, and other places we think appropriate so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it.
If we make material changes to our e-mail practices, we will notify you here, by e-mail, and by means of a notice on our home page.
3. Third Party Advertisers
The advertising banners and other forms of advertising appearing on this Web site are sometimes delivered to you, on our behalf, by a third party. In the course of serving advertisements to this site, the third party may place or recognize a unique cookie on your browser. For more information on cookies, you can visit www.cookiecentral.com.
4. Business Transfers
As we continue to develop our business, we might sell certain aspects of our entities or assets. In such transactions, user information, including personally identifiable information, generally is one of the transferred business assets, and by submitting your personal information on Wn.com you agree that your data may be transferred to such parties in these circumstances.
Source: http://article.wn.com/view/2013/03/25/Rampant_Japan_poised_to_seal_World_Cup_berth/
Congregation of burned Clearfield church hold Palm Sunday services
(Scott Sommerdorf | The Salt Lake Tribune) The burned Clearfield Community Church sits behind a fire line fence while Palm Sunday services were conducted at Wasatch Elementary School in Clearfield, Sunday, March 24, 2013.
Renewal ? Church members say they will rebuild after Tuesday fire.
Clearfield ? The sun didn?t filter through the stained glass windows. There was no organ music echoing off the solid timbers of the high ceiling, or a procession of children with palm fronds. Congregants held white printer paper instead of song books.
It didn?t matter.
"We may not be in our old building," Tina Ramirez told the Clearfield Community Church members Sunday morning, "but we are still here."
The church held Palm Sunday services at the Wasatch Elementary gym after a Tuesday fire gutted their church building a few blocks away. With a simple table-top cross, potted palms and a collection of daffodils decorating the space, the day?s message of renewal seemed particularly fitting.
Pastor John Parsley held a large blue parade banner salvaged from the flames as he preached, sending the smell of smoke wafting through the room.
"This may be a symbol of you, of us," he said, and paraphrased Winston Churchill. "?Never, never, never, never give up.?"
Parsley was working on a sermon in his office Tuesday when someone came to warn him about the fire, and left the book open to Matthew chapter 5 as he left. The blaze had started after a computer used as a card catalog at the church library overheated.
"It was an old, old computer," said Gerald Nichols, a small group coordinator at the church. "It got turned on once a month."
"It?s such a small, inconsequential thing, to have cause to much pain," said his wife, Cathy. Though there are often dozens of children at the church for home schooling, that day there were only about 13 junior high-age kids, and everyone got out safely.
The fire burned fast and hot, in part because the 35-year-old sanctuary didn?t have a sprinkler system ? it was grandfathered in under old rules, said North Davis Fire Chief Mark Becraft.
story continues below
"It was a very, very dangerous fire," he said, one that forced his firefighters out as the stairs started to fall. At one point, firefighters turned off their hoses to allow the blaze to consume the heavy timber on the building?s west side, removing the fuel. "If we hadn?t done that, it would still be smoldering today."
The blaze caused $750,000 to $1 million worth of damage. Though some of the brick walls still stand, the inside of the building is now a nest of twisted, blackened beams, the stained glass windows that were near the ceiling destroyed. Seven of those were handmade by member Edward Isler, who is retired from Hill Air Force Base.
"The pastor was just saying, ?Isn?t that something, when the sun is low, it casts [shadows of] the etchings on the floor??" said Isler on Sunday. One window, an image of a wafer and a wheat stalk, was created in memory of his wife.
"We would always say ?We?ve got to remember to take a picture of them,? but we never did," said his daughter, Tine Wolfe.
The congregation ? about 170 people on Sunday ?will hold services at Wasatch Elementary for the foreseeable future, but are insured and plan to rebuild. The less-damaged part of the building, including the fellowship hall, could be repaired in five months, said Bill Storing, chairman of the stewardship and finance committee, but it will likely be at about two years before the full church is rebuilt.
"The congregation is the church," said Clearfield Mayor Don Wood. "The goodness and the heart of the people."
April Ehrig of West Point has been attending the church of 20 years, and got her seminary degree and did a mission to the Czech Republic. She seemed to hold back tears as she talked about the fire.
Still, "situations like this tend to bring people together," she said. "It tells you what?s important."
lwhitehurst@sltrib.com
Twitter: @lwhitehurst
Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/56054072-78/church-fire-building-sunday.html.csp
Colorado Marijuana Washington Election Results drudge report Presidential Election 2012 Incumbent politico Tammy Baldwin
Economics and Investing: - SurvivalBlog.com
If the US markets are considered the "safe haven" amidst all the recent EU turmoil, then why isn't the US Dollar Index skyrocketing? (Mr. Market has some foresight.)
And if the global economy is in "recovery", then why is the Baltic Dry Index for shipping rates back in the dumpster? (JWR's Comment: Sounds like more like a "Lohan" recovery to me, to wit: she's checked into rehab, but there is no willingness to actually change.)
US Begins Regulating BitCoin, Will Apply "Money Laundering" Rules To Virtual Transactions
I found this linked over at Gold-Eagle: The Dark Truth About The Safety Of Your 'Savings'
Reuters reports: Euro zone call notes reveal extent of alarm over Cyprus
Items from The Economatrix:
A 900 Million Euro Trade Rocked The London Options Market This Morning [Cheryl's Comment: Hmm... Sounds like someone is betting against the Euro?]
ADP:? Private Sector Job Growth Remains "Sturdy"
Ick!? America's Economic Signals Are Wildly Mixed
Source: http://www.survivalblog.com/2013/03/economics-and-investing-1478.html
lindsay lohan snl lindsay lohan on snl real housewives of disney awakenings phantom of the opera agoraphobia andrew lloyd webber
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)